Havelock looks to scale back park projects

Wednesday

Work on two Havelock city park projects is proving more costly than originally anticipated, according to updates the Board of Commissioners received during Monday's work session.

Havelock Public Services Director Mark Sayger told the board that the city had received four bids for Phase Four of the Slocum Creek Park project, which includes construction of restroom facilities, a patio area, access to a kayak launch and utility improvements.

Sayger said the lowest bid came from Thomas Simpson Construction in Morehead City, for a total of $215,000.

According to City Manager Frank Bottorff, the city received a $148,500 Coastal Area Management Act grant for Phase Four work. With a contingency fee of $10,000 added to construction costs, the city fell about $77,000 short for the project, said Bottorff.

“There’s not a lot of space to cut back on this project,” he told the board.

Commissioners quickly agreed to scrap plans for a shade sail at the site that would have cost an additional $26,000.

Havelock Mayor Will Lewis said that, out of nearly $1 million spent on the Slocum Creek project, the city had provided only $80,000 to $90,000.

“This is the first time we would have to put substantial money into the project,” said Lewis. “Only 12 percent of taxpayer dollars, roughly, has been spent. I don’t have a problem coming up with the other $77,000 for this phase of the project. The other option is you turn the grant down and you don’t do this part.”

Lewis stressed that failure to fund Phase Four of the project would jeopardize Phase Five, which is scheduled to include completion of the park’s driveway and parking spaces.

The board unanimously agreed to move the additional money needed for the project out of the city’s general fund. The action will require a vote by the board during its meeting on Nov. 27.

The board voted unanimously to allow Bottorff to sign a contract authorizing the Phase Four work.

The board also addressed the future of the ongoing Lewis Farm Park project, initially planned to create a multi-purpose athletic field to help support the city's growing recreation leagues that need more space on which to play and practice.

Bottorff told the board the city has $460,000 from a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant to use for construction on the project. He said bids for the work had come in “a little higher than we had hoped.”

The low bid for the work once again came from Thomas Simpson Construction, at $689,297, or about $230,000 above the city’s budget for the project.

Several alternative items, including the addition of an irrigation system for the park’s playing field, would add an additional $22,080, raising the bid to $711,377.

The current concept for the park includes a multi-purpose area, playground, picnic area, concession area, and restroom facilities. In 2015, the board cut a community garden, dog park and second athletic field out of the original plans because the costs would exceed the budget and briefly discussed ending the project then but decided to move forward.

Mark Garner, vice president of Rivers and Associates, Inc. of Greenville, provided the board with a spreadsheet showing a number of alternative, cost reducing plans for the park.

“We had to look and see what are the opportunities to value engineer that bid, in other words reduce the scope of the project and seeing what impact that has on cost,” said Garner.

The first option would involve the deletion of the restroom and concession building, which would also alleviate the need for an onsite wastewater system. Garner said the option would reduce the project cost to $415,000.

Garner said placing portable restrooms at the site would cost the city about $400 a month, however.

Another option for the park would be to retain the restroom and concession building but cut back on site amenities such as decorative fencing, trash cans, picnic tables, and some landscaping. Those changes would bring the project cost down to $602,000, according to Garner.

Other cost-cutting measures that Garner presented included reducing the size of the restroom and concession building and eliminating a proposed irrigation system for the park’s athletic field.

Bottorff explained that certain park features, such as the playing field, picnic shelter and playground had to be retained as a condition of the PARTF grant.

Commissioner Danny Walsh said he was opposed to removal of the restrooms and other features.

“I just can’t imagine putting it out there without bathrooms,” said Walsh. “And I can’t imagine having a playground without a fence.”

Commissioners Brenda Wilson and Karen Lewis said they concurred with Walsh.

“I don’t have a good feeling about not having bathrooms out there, not at all,” Karen Lewis said.

Commissioner Pete Van Vliet asked about the possibility of installing vault toilets, outhouse-like buildings that require no water, at the site.

“It wouldn't require a $60,000 septic system,” he commented.

According to Mayor Lewis, commissioners voted to apply for a PARTF grant for the project seven years ago. Garner said since he was brought onto the project in 2013, he and Havelock city officials had been working to reduce costs.

“Once I saw the budget you had for this project I said ‘You can’t do this project for that budget.’ So we spent the better part of 12 months trying to figure out how you put this thing into a package where it reasonably appears it can be done for that kind of money,” said Garner.

Combining the options into the lowest possible cost plan, said Lewis, would still leave the park project about $185,000 over budget. That additional money would have to come from the city’s general fund, he explained.

Mayor Lewis said the commissioners also had to consider the “nuclear option.”

“The next option is you don’t do Lewis Farm Park at all. There are ramifications to that, political and monetary, and I don’t know if we’re ready to take on all those,” he told the board.

He also reminded the board that the city was working under a timeline to complete the park. Garner said the approximately eight-month project would need to be completed by Sept. 2018 to meet the PARTF grant specifications.

“If you want us to have everything together and be able to finish, a motion to proceed needs to be passed at your December meeting,” Garner told the board.

Several board members said they would like to push forward with the Lewis Farm Park project while others said they would like more information.

The board has scheduled a special meeting at 3 p.m. Monday at Havelock City Hall to discuss future plans for the project.

Havelock acquired the 46-acre site, which was outside Havelock city limits off Lewis Farm Road near Carolina Pines, through a land transfer in 2013 with the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, which aims to protect it from major development that could encroach upon Cherry Point's training and base operations. At the time, the property had an assessed value of $612,000.